Business Diary: Sky ups stakes in BBC grudge game

Do we detect a bit of Sir Alex Ferguson-style psychological warfare from Sky News business editor Mark Kleinman? As we reported last week, Kleinman is this weekend playing for the Sky News five-a-side football team against a BBC News team featuring his arch-rival Robert Peston. In the run-up to the big game, he's taken to ridiculing the BBC business editor's stories on Twitter. "Sources confirm to the BBC that ex-RBS directors to be interviewed by the FSA – eight days after it was reported here!" Kleinman tweets gleefully.

BAA departures are continuing

The cull at BAA continues after the airports operator's disastrous performance during the winter snow. Malcolm Robertson, BAA's director of communications, has already quit – now his number two, head of media Andrew Teacher, is off too. Not that either man bears the responsibility for failing to order enough shovels to keep the runways clear – that surely lies with BAA chief executive Colin Matthews, who remains in his post. But we know BAA's owners like Matthews – he got a £151,000 pay rise last year.

Asda takes royal roadshow to US

Japes galore at Asda, whose chief executive and finance director were at the annual general meeting of their parent company Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas yesterday. And what better way for Andy Clarke and Judith McKenna to milk the royal-loving Americans than by appearing on stage dressed as Prince William and new wife Princess Catherine?

Trying to buy off Equitable victims?

When ministers realised they had no choice but to compensate thousands of savers who lost out as a result of Equitable Life's collapse, they came up with a cut-price scheme that saw most people get only some of their losses back and a significant number qualify for nothing at all. A tiny handful, by contrast, will receive 100 per cent compensation. Guess which group the most high-profile Equitable victim, Honor Blackman, falls into? No prizes for working out that ministers decided Blackman, the face of the campaign for justice, ought to get her money in full. To her credit, she's vowed to continue fighting on for everyone else.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk